Chapter 7: The First Mission
Mike was sitting in the rec room telling his story to the collected group of Rose, Shelly, Goombard, and Yosh. Leo was sitting at the table, pouring over many different maps and blueprints. Peach was looking in on Joules, who was lying down in the guestroom Mike had slept in before. "So the guard hears Joules talking," Mike was explaining, "and in order to cover for him so he could get away, I start acting schizophrenic."
"And the Hammer Brother bought that?" Shelly asked.
"Hook, like, and sinker," Mike said. "It just proves my favorite saying: When all else fails, do something weird."
"I thought it was 'When all else fails, run like hell.'," Rose said. Leo snorted at this comment.
"Well, that too," Mike said sheepishly. Just then, Peach walked in the room. "How's Joules?" Mike asked.
"He'll be fine," she replied. "He's just tired. Some sleep will do him a lot of good." There was an awkward silence where nobody could think of anything to say.
Mike was the first to break the silence. "Well, Joules is the son of Watt, Rose and I are the grandchildren of Luigi and Daisy, and you and Leo are grandchildren of Mario and Peach, right?" he asked.
"That's correct," Peach answered. "Leo and I are brother and sister. Our father came here in the same fashion Mario and Luigi first did."
"Okay. And what about you three?" Mike asked Shelly, Goombard, and Yosh.
"Well, I'm the granddaughter of Kooper, who was with Mario and Watt," Shelly replied. "This scarf is his."
"I'm the grandson of Goombario," Goombard chimed.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you… Why did your parents name you Goombard?" Mike asked.
"They wanted me to grow up to be a great singer. Do you want an example of my singing?"
"No, Goombard, that's okay. We don't need you to sing," Rose said quickly.
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Positive," Shelly said.
"Well, what about you, Yosh?" Mike asked.
Yosh looked a little flustered. "I've been friends with Leo and Peach since we were kids," he answered, evading the question. Mike was about to ask another question when there was a ringing sound. "I'll get it," Yosh said, jumping up and running out the room.
"Not much of a secret hideout, is it?" Mike commented.
"There are people living in the slums who give us info sometimes, ya' know," Rose retorted.
Yosh walked back into the room and said, "It's for you, Mike." He handed Mike an envelope.
"Who would know I'm here?" Mike asked no one in particular.
"Nobody was out there. The envelope was just sitting on the front step," Yosh explained. Mike took the envelope and opened it. He started reading the letter silently to himself while Rose moved over and started reading over his shoulder. Finally, he put the letter down and exhaled. "Well, that's a relief," he said. "This letter is from my parents. They know I'm with you guys, and they've gone into hiding in order to get away from Bowser."
"Typical. Leave it to a child of Luigi's to run away," Leo said disdainfully.
"What is your problem anyway?" Mike yelled, standing up. Leo also stood up and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Well, what are your parents doing?" Mike asked, highly annoyed.
"Mike," Rose said, grabbing his arm.
"No, Rose. It's okay," Peach said softly. "Mike, sit down. I'll tell you." Mike sat back down where he was before, and Leo sat down at the table. "At first, when Bowser had taken over, our mother and grandmother, Peach the 1st and 2nd, hid too, at a secret location," Peach started.
"Which was a stupid move," Leo grumbled. "If she had taken a stand and had taken all of her forces and threw them at Bowser, before he gained all this power, he would have been beaten."
"Wait a minute," Mike interjected. "This happened right after Bowser had beaten Mario, right?" There was a moment of silence for the fallen hero. "Peach's forces were probably so disheartened at the defeat of Mario that none of them would have wanted to fight. You can't send troops into battle with low morale. It would have been a slaughter. Basic tactics, Leo." Leo glared at Mike, but then turned back to his papers. Mike smiled inwardly, happy to have won that small battle.
"Our mother was whisked off to a secret hiding location in the islands for safe keeping. Our father joined her after he was found during a small raid of one of Bowser's warehouses. Later, they had us, and all was going well, until one mission that went bad real quickly. They were betrayed by someone who wanted out of the rebellion. Now, they're held in one of Bowser's maximum-security prisons. We don't where they are…" Peach said, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Oh, geez… I'm sorry. I truly am," Mike said, trying to comfort Peach.
There was a pause before Leo said, "Mike, come over here."
Mike walked over and said, "What's up?"
"Rose tells me that you're quite the leader."
"Really?" Mike asked, glancing over at Rose.
"And because of that, I'm giving you your first mission, as the leader."
"Okay… What's the mission?"
Leo pulled out some papers and started pointing out different areas. "You will be leading Yosh, Shelly, and Goombard on a mission to destroy this factory. It's located…"
"Close to my house," Mike cut in. "See, it's right there." He pointed to one rectangle in particular. "But why are you choosing the group for me? If I'm the leader, shouldn't I pick the group?"
"The bomb that you will be using was built by Goombard and Shelly, so they need to go. Yosh was going to lead this mission, but since your such a good leader, I gave it to you," Leo answered, ending in sarcasm.
Mike glanced over at Yosh and was about to say something, but Yosh cut him off and said, "Hey, don't worry about it. You know the territory better." Mike nodded and turned back to Leo.
"You'll be leaving at 1800 hours tomorrow. You'll check in to the hotel at 1830. You leave the hotel at 0900. You infiltrate the factory at 0930. The factory blows up at 1015. You got that?" Leo asked.
"Understood," Mike said, throwing Leo his best salute. "Now, if you don't mind, it's getting late. I'm gonna go check on Joules and then go to bed."
"I think I'll hit the hay too," Rose said, standing up. Mike walked out the double doors of the rec room and turned to go into the guest room where he has slept before, and where Joules was now. He walked through the open door and sat down on the edge of the bed. Joules was awake, but still looked tired. "Hey, little guy, how are you doing?" Mike asked.
"I'm okay, but I'm still really tired," he replied. "Where am I?"
"Umm…" Mike said, biting his lip. How do I put this? he asked himself. He decided that telling him the truth would be best. "You're in the headquarters of the rebellion led by Leo, grandson of Mario."
"Oh," Joules said. Apparently, Mike's last statement didn't sink in. Joules' eyes closed, and he drifted back off into sleep. Mike walked out of the room and down the hallway. As he passed the rec room, he heard some heated discussion. Suddenly, all the talking stopped, and Mike heard footsteps heading towards the double doors. He took this as his cue to leave. He took a few long strides down the hall and then slowed his pace to make it look like he hadn't heard anything. Leo opened the door and looked down the hallway. Mike felt his gaze upon him like the laser sight of a gun. Luckily, Rose's room was right there. He knocked on the door, and then quickly slipped in. He was sharing this room with Rose because Joules was using the guestroom. "Hey, Mike," she said, "How's Joules?"
"He's okay, just out of it," Mike replied.
"That's good."
After a pause, Mike asked, "Rose, what do you think your doing?"
"What are you talking about, Mike?"
"I'm not a leader Rose!"
"But you're so good at leading…"
"That's in everyday life! That's completely different than a bunch of rebels with a bomb!"
"But…"
"Even so, I don't like leading. I may be good at it when I need to be, but I don't want to."
"I'm sorry, Mike…" Rose said softly.
"Don't worry about it. I'll make it work," Mike said, all of his anger draining out of him. On a lighter note, he added, "So, how bad is Goombard's singing, anyway?"
Rose smiled and replied, "He makes Yoko Ono sound like an angel."
"Ouch. That's harsh."
"It's also true." They both laughed a bit. "Mike?"
"Yeah?" Mike asked. He could guess what was coming next, but he hoped that question wouldn't come up.
"Why didn't your parents adopt me?" Rose asked.
Mike sighed. This was the question he had feared. This question always came up whenever they were together. Rose saw it as some kind of tradition and didn't mean it to cause any kind of trouble, but Mike always got annoyed that he couldn't come up with a good answer. Well, every time except this time. "I think I can answer that this time," he said.
"Really?" Rose asked.
"Yeah. It's apparent that my parents knew about our grandparents. They must have figured that keeping us apart would hamper Bowser's efforts to capture us."
"I figured it was something like that, once I knew about Luigi and Daisy," Rose said. "I just wanted to hear you say that."
"You shouldn't be afraid to be wrong, Rose."
Rose looked hurt. "Me? Afraid? Yeah right," she said, smiling slightly.
"Whatever," Mike replied. With that, they went to sleep.